Hopewell Rosenwald School

Hopewell Rosenwald School. . After Emancipation, education was a key pathway to economic prosperity for African Americans. However, funds were often scarce and advocates experienced significant disparities in public monies appropriated for black education. Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) inspired Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932), president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., to give financial assistance to build school facilities for African American students. From 1920 to 1932, the Rosenwald Foundation helped build 5,357 schools across the south, including more than 500 built in Texas. , Hopewell Rosenwald School was built on Bastrop County land that had belonged to Martin (1848-1912) and Sophia (1858-1935) McDonald, who were enslaved as children. In 1876, the couple purchased 83 acres of land and began a successful farm. They advocated land ownership and education, and by 1906, expanded their own farm to include 1,100 acres. In 1919, one-and-a-half acres and a monetary grant were deeded from the McDonald estate for a church and school to serve the Hopewell community. The school, completed in 1921, was paid for through public funds, money raised from the African American community and a grant from the Rosenwald fund. Artelia McDonald Brown, daughter of Martin and Sophia, was the first teacher. Initially an elementary school, Hopewell was later reclassified as a one-year and then two-year high school. The frame school building features a gable roof with exposed rafter ends, wood siding and large multi-pane windows. Hopewell school continued to serve the community until the late 1950s, when reorganization and integration of public schools rendered Rosenwald schools obsolete. The school, central to the educational, cultural and social lives of the community, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.